IS CARDIO BETTER THAN WEIGHT LIFTING FOR WEIGHT LOSS

To give you the upfront answer, both are good for weight loss. Combining them is GOLDEN! Yes, even if you are a woman, weight lifting is your friend! What's important to know is what you can accomplish from each style of training and how effective it would be to help you reach your goal.

For example, weightlifting aka strength training is a MUST if your goal is to build muscle, lose fat, and have that "look". You know, the toned look; curvy, ripped, and strong look. The "I'm never leaving this mirror while I stare at myself naked" look.

Strength training is the most beneficial activity you can do to lose body fat and gain muscle overtime. Cardio is good for heart health, increasing endurance, and a quick fix calorie burn. Both can benefit each other if programmed correctly for your workouts.

WHY PEOPLE ONLY CHOOSE CARDIO AND SKIP WEIGHTS (MYTHS and MISCONCEPTIONS)

- Thinks weights will make them bulky (way too many ladies think this. Stop it 😃)

- Don't want to look dumb in the gym.

- Thinks it's the only way to burn more calories.

WHY PEOPLE ONLY CHOOSE LIFTING AND SKIP CARDIO (MYTHS and MISCONCEPTIONS)

- Thinks cardio will cause them to lose their gains.

- Thinks cardio will interfere with strength.

- Thinks they did enough cardio in the past years.

Let's break this down. Throw all those myths and misconceptions away forever and let me tell you why both cardio and strength training combined will help you reach your goal.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING CARDIO?

There are two types of cardio exercises:

• Low intensity steady state (LISS)

• High intensity interval training (HIIT)

LISS exercises: Performed for long duration and low intensity such as jogging, walking, swimming, biking, treadmill.

HIIT exercises: Performed for a short duration and high in intensity such as kickboxing, basketball, sprints, tabata.

Both are beneficial and have their own place in a well designed fat loss program.

In a 45 minute cardio session, you'll burn more calories than you would a 45 minute strength training session. You'll also increase your stamina and flow of oxygen in your body, but sticking only to that style of training won't build lean muscle or improve your body composition to keep long lasting results.

Overtime, your body adapts to cardio and won't burn the same amount of calories that it did before. Cardio alone is not the answer to fat loss or building lean muscle.

Cardio is a short term, but not long term way to burn calories and lose fat. Think of it more as a quick fix. That's why strength training is important and can give great results for fat loss and a lean body.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING STRENGTH TRAINING?

Strength training gives the "look" that I talked about in the beginning of this article. It will change your physique and body composition because it will help you build lean muscle. Whenever I have a client that says they want to tone up or get a bigger this or that, what they're really telling me is that they want lean muscle.

Strength training are activities that require you to use your muscles to generate force against an external resistance aka weight lifting. Exercising with dumbbells, barbells, and other tools.

The calorie burn from strength training is different than the calorie burn from cardio. How? Doing more strength training builds lean muscle which increases your metabolism. A better and faster metabolism burns more calories overtime and during rest and sleep.

Whereas with cardio, you only burn calories at that moment you're doing the activity. Cardio is a short term fix. Strength training is a long term fix.

DO BOTH CARDIO AND STRENGTH TRAINING IN AN INTENTIONAL AND WELL DESIGNED WAY

Chances are, whatever your goal is, cardio and strength training combined will get you there! Both are good! They can both benefit each other and not take away from one another if done correctly.

Cardio helps you build your aerobic capacity which is the highest amount of oxygen consumed during exercise. Oxygen improves the flow of blood to muscle tissue. That's good for weight lifting because it allows you to perform better and recover better. Overall, the more oxygen your muscles can get the stronger and more muscle you'll build.

I'll have to do another article on how to program and design a workout program that has both cardio and weight lifting but here's a simple guideline...

For strength training:

• Strength train 2 to 4 days a week.

• Do compound movements like squats, deadlifts, presses, carries, rows, lunges.

• Do 3 to 6 exercises per workout for 3 to 6 sets.

• Train in the rep range of 3 to 12 with 60 to 120 sec of rest in between.

• Add weights, sets, or reps weekly or monthly.

• Change your exercises or rep ranges every 4 weeks.

For cardio:

• Choose your cardio exercise that you enjoy and can do consistently.

• 1 to 3 LISS or HIIT sessions a week

• Add more cardio days if needed but always be mindful of your fatigue and recovery. Rest days are totally fine and a MUST.

• Don't over do it with cardio. Remember, too much cardio eats away muscle tissue. Strength training has more benefits so prioritize it accordingly so you can crush it in the weight room.

When you start to plateau, either go a little deeper into a calorie deficit with your food or increase the duration and/or the intensity of your cardio. Adjustments are key, but should be based on effectiveness and not impatience.

You will have to adjust your methods little by little until you hit your goal.

I train almost all of my clients in both cardio and strength training. The main focus is 45 mins of strength training and then followed up by 15 to 20 minutes of kickboxing. For some, it's just strength training if they aren't interested in kickboxing or I give them a different kind of cardio.

When they're not training with me, they're usually doing some kind of cardio on their own which could be walking, running , group exercise class, or treadmill.

So, in conclusion, lift weights, moderate and purposeful cardio, eat less calories, make adjustments, and keep it simple!

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